Today, most companies, organizations and other businesses have Facebook pages. The truth is, these pages are essential.
Facebook has more than 1.4 billion active users per month. Just creating a page is only the beginning. Your page will not get generate customers and leads unless it is being noticed, liked and has engagement.
Unfortunately, the social network has made it more difficult for companies to reach people organically. Since October 2013, organic reach has dropped by 49 percent. This reach declines as Facebook’s stock price rises.
Why is this? There are two main reasons. First, more than 18 million businesses are competing for space on Facebook. Then, you have to remember that Facebook itself is a business. A large portion of its revenue comes from selling ads for increased reach.
Fortunately, there are ways to improve your organic reach. It’s all about focusing on better metrics.
- Behind the scenes
- Share personal, behind-the-scenes photos of your team; whether it’s working in the office, at a community event or eating a meal together
- Community engagement
- Posts questions to engage your following in a relevant topic
- Listen to your audience
- Monitor and respond to comments and concerns
- Use the same strategies as Fortune 500 Companies
- Be positive with customer’s to make their experience enjoyable
- Disclose what goes on inside the company
- Be accessible, reach and interact with consumers
- Self explanatory
- Post content that is not only valuable to your readers, but easily understood
- Infographics are great for self-explanatory posts
- Non-peak time postings
- Post when there’s little other content being shared online
- Best Times and Frequency
- Use Facebook Insights to look at your current reach. Then, determine how frequently you should post and when you should be posting.
- Schedule posts
- You can schedule posts in advance through Facebook or on other websites, such as Hootsuite.
Other Tips
- Make sure your profile picture is easily recognizable (dimensions: 180 pixels by 180 pixels).
- Chose a cover photo that grabs a viewer’s attention (dimensions 851 pixels by 315 pixels)
- Put your social media share buttons on your website.
- Drive traffic to your website by adding links to the descriptions of your profile picture and cover photos. You can also ttilize one of the seven call-to-action buttons you can add to your Facebook page’s cover photo.
- Do not create a dummy personal Facebook account specifically for your business page.
- Complete the “About” section of your profile with descriptive text about your business product, service or purpose.
- Don’t just post photos and videos—share links to articles and special offers as well.
- Encourage followers to share their experiences with your brand, product or service.